Sahar Hashemi

‘If you’re human, you’re an entrepreneur’

Sahar is the founder of two disruptive businesses: the UK’s first coffee bar chain, Coffee Republic, which she grew to 110 stores and a £50 million market cap, and Skinny Candy, a market segment-defining brand of sugar-free sweets.

She has seen up close how the unique spirit that exists in a start up can
dramatically transform behaviour and performance in corporations, no matter the size.

Sahar believes entrepreneurship isn’t an innate personality trait but a step-by-step process anyone can follow. Which is why she called her book
Anyone Can Do It.

If someone, like her, who had never shown a shred of leadership or creative
potential could do it, then truly anyone can. The book has been translated into six languages and is the second-highest selling book on entrepreneurship in the UK.

Since moving on from her businesses, Sahar has worked to bring start up mindset to big companies facing relentless change and in need of more agility and innovation. Her most recent book Start Up Forever is the culmination of her work speaking to 400 organisations about the actionable, practical steps that can bring out anyone’s inner entrepreneur. It was named The Financial Times Best Business Book of the Month in March 2019.

She has been repeatedly recognised for her work. In 2011 she was nominated by Director magazine as one of its Top 10 Original Thinkers, alongside Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Jonathan Ive. In June 2012 she was awarded an OBE for services to the UK economy and to charity. She has been named
“Pioneer to the life of the Nation” by Her Majesty The Queen and Young Global leader by the World Economic Forum.

What Sahar offers:

Sahar knows what blocks entrepreneurial behaviour in large organisations, and what it takes to unleash it. She offers practical, day-to-day advice, not vague theory. And by drawing on her deeply personal story, she connects with audiences through the heart, not just the head, to bring about real,
long-lasting change.